Among the many success stories that define Essendon’s AFLW list, Amelia Radford’s journey has certainly been unconventional.

After more than a decade devoted to junior soccer pathways and a personal career in the strategy and operations field, an AFLW finals series mightn’t have been visible on the horizon two years ago.

Cracking into Essendon’s 2022 VFLW premiership side, Radford’s football return paid off with a spot on the club’s inaugural AFLW list, before growing into a consistent performer across her two seasons at senior level in the red and black.

Ahead of her (and the club’s) first ever AFLW final against Geelong this weekend, Radford told 3WBC’s Balls and All that the opportunity presented is an exciting one for the entire club to embrace.

“For me personally, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind over the last 18 months playing in the VFLW team, winning a premiership and the next day to be my first AFLW training session,” Radford said.

“It’s exciting what’s to come this week for the club. It’s been a long season and a lot of hard work’s been put in, so it’s pretty exciting that we’re competing in the finals in only our second year.”

At 28 years of age, Radford is still one of the Bombers’ freshest in terms of experience, having pieced together 17 AFLW games (including all 10 so far this season) in her tenure with the club.

For Radford, the on-field contribution of leaders such as Bonnie Toogood and Maddy Prespakis has been big in contributing to the growth of the Bombers throughout the season.

“There’s a bit of experience with a fair few of us girls that have played in VFLW finals series before, and we’ve got a wealth of experience with all the AFLW girls coming from other clubs as we built our list,” Radford said.

“We’ve got Bonnie and Maddy who have a lot of experience, and what it means to us is just (having) that on-ground leadership.

“Football’s a game with lots of different moving pieces and to have their level of knowledge out there on the ground when things are and aren’t going our way, they can just flick the switch and get the group all aligned and focused on the right things.”

The matchup with the Cats marks their second encounter this season, with the Bombers prevailing in a spirited comeback victory back in round six.

Radford sees the two sides’ game styles very similarly, with winning the contested ball a key facet to the result.

“Geelong will definitely be a tough opponent, but we got a win against them earlier in the season so we can go in with a lot of confidence,” Radford said.

“With the AFLW being a shorter season, you don’t always get the opportunity to play teams twice in one season, so that’s a great bonus for us.

“They’re a very fast team who love to win the contested ball, I think we play a similar brand (which is exciting and fun to watch) and we’ll be looking to go out there and do the things we did earlier in the season.”

Radford is confident in the Bombers’ ability to hold up in finals, suggesting that the process won’t alter too much for the side in the lead-up.

“The focus for us is always on what we can do. Not much changes for me personally and the team,” Radford said.

“Seeing all the hard work that’s been done over the last two years in my game is starting to show off, (getting) that experience and consistency behind me. It’s always exciting to just run out in front of all the fans and soak in all the emotions and experience on the day.

“I haven’t played that many games of footy, so every time I get to run out it’s like a new opportunity.”